Reviews
REVIEW IN RECORDING MAGAZINE (August 2008)
When we say “something different” - we mean it. When I first saw a picture of the Copperphone, I had no idead what to think other than I had to try it. In true home-brew-tinkerker fashion, Mark Pirro makes Copperphones by hand, one at a time, in his garage. And the result is stunning.
WHAT IS IT? – The Copperphone is a dynamic microphone manufactured with vintage communications components and telephone parts. This is instant lo-fi audio in the most classy and fabulous sense - just point it at your source and enjoy. The Coppeprhone is a piece of copper pipe with a brilliantly simple stand mount. It weight a ton, and must be rather well damped inside. Aside from that, there is little else to know. Frequency response is limited to basically all midrange, and the polar patter seems pretty omnidirectional, but that’s just my personal observation.
WHERE FROM? – I held my first Copperphone - a very used and abused sample, I might add - following one of the most incredible live concerts I’ve ever seen. You see, the father of the Copperphone is also the bass player for the Polyphonic Spree, a 23-member symphonic rock band of epic proportions. Spree lead singer Tim DeLaughter usees the Copperphone on certain tunes, and it was fantatstic to hear the min in a live setting. ”As the bass player for The Polyphonic Spree I have watched Tim DeLaughter, (lead) singer in the band, search sonically for the perfect nostalgic “telephone” effect for his voice,” says Mark Pirro. To fill this pretty unique niche, Mark thought it would be great to have a microphone that could create DeLaughter’s phone effect live, rather than deal with effects and switching in the live setting. And, following lots of tinkering and tweaking, the Copperphone was born.
GETTING SOUNDS – The most likely place to start was vocals. Since the voice is the most familiar of instruments to us all, you can really hear the Copperphone’s unique sound here. It is not boxy or even totally telephone-like. Instead, the limited bandwidth has a great lo-fi sound that’s not too thin. There’s enough low-mid information so the sound can really blend into a mix. Or, filtered and pushed up, it can stick out as a vintage radio effect. Over time we tried the Copperphone on everything else imaginable. It’s naturarl compression makes it sound great as a funky drum-room mic. In concert with a more normal microphone on electric guitar, I used it to add just a bit of edge and depth. It transports you straight to the ’40s on piano, and makes stringed acoustic instruments sound especially old. I really liked the Copperphone with my Chandler Germanium rack preamp, which can sound quite think and warm. The Chandler mellowed and fattened the Copperphone, a nice combination. Note that the Copperphone is remarkably quiet. While you get this crazy lo-fi sound, it works great on quiet sources. On the first verse of the vibey and quiet ballad, we tracked the singer’s lead vocal twith the Copperphone. Sitting on top of only a pad and some string tracks, the vocal was eerie and lo-fi, with no notable noise or hiss to mar the performance.
FINAL THOUGHTS – Something about the Copperphone inspires creativity, perhaps because it just looks cool. Many musicians asked about it while up at the studios, wondering what was us with this crazy mic. Gear is a tool and not the source of great music. But a cool instrument - or in this case, a cool mic - can certainly inspire creativity and the Copperphone delivers big in this department. When talking about vibe and sonic funk, the Copperphone is king. Its utility is really only limited tby your creatvitity and commitment to experimentation. Just as I was writing this review, I realized it would be cool to try the Copperphone as a mid mic in an M/S array, with a ribbon as the side. I don’t know if it will work, but it will an otherwise impossible sound. Yes, this is a one-trick pony, but when you need the trick, you might as well get the pony. Just be carful if you fly with it - the FBI questioned percussionist Brian Teasly after finding a “pipe bomb” in his suitcase! - Written by Justin Peacock.
REVIEW IN TAPE OP MAGAZINE (July/August 2004)
A microphone for anyone who likes outstanding build-quality, interesting sounds, and a DIY ethic, the Copperphone is hand made by Mark Pirro (The Polyphonic Spree, Tripping Daisy). It’s really cool looking; it looks like a cross between a pipe bomb and a water cannon on the front of an old fireboat. Made of polished copper pipe, the resonate chamber behind the phone element is as important as the element it self. The resonate peaks inherent to a short legnth of pipe translate well to Billie Holiday-esque frequency response. The mic has limited bandwidth for sure, but the end result is surprisingly pleasing. The presence this mic can lend to a multiple mic set up is amazing.
I used this mic all over a record along side a U47 FET to capture upright bass, and the growl we got out of it was insane. On nylon-string guitar, the Copperphone sounds like it’s from another era. Not the lame “alternative” lo-fi type of sound, but truly from another era in recording, where you actually tried to get the best sound possible with limited-bandwidth equipment, rather than by filtering the crap out something recorded with a 4033 to make it sound “old”. Dean from Atomic Recording in Brooklyn borrowed one of my Copperphones, and he really dug the mid range honk this mic added to a clean, indie-rock guitar overdub. (Dean has done a ton of cool rock records, and I wanted someone who’s not a complete freak like me to check out the Copperphone).
We live in a world where big chains sell homogonized, semi-cool stuff as the new “solution” to the problems that they made up so they could sell you more of the same. The Placid Audio Copperphone transcends all that. It can stand on it’s own or it can compliment other mics in a multi-mic set up to give your productions a fingerprint so often missing in the flavorless world of corporate recording. Contact Placid Audio. Great product by a cool person. You need to hear this mic. ($250 direct) - Written by Joel Hamilton.
REVIEW IN PRO AUDIO REVIEW MAGAZINE (June 2006)
Every once in a while (and it’s not very often) a product comes along that is so cool and unique that I’m split between telling everyone I know about it or keeping it a secret to never share with a soul. That’s the case with the Copperphone microphone. This unique little beast has become my new secret weapon.
By using components from vintage communications equipment the Copperphone microphone attains that lo-fi sound reminiscent of a telephone or AM radio. The rugged dynamic mic has a precision-machined hand made copper capsule. The mic can withstand extremely high sound pressure levels (kick drum/guitar amps) with no risk of damage to the diaphragm and it is equally adept for both studio and live settings.
The Copperphone microphone has two sonic characters. The first is smooth clean response with no clipping. In most cases I have found that this is the best response for most situations. I have had great results using the microphone in this manner to record vocals, acoustic guitar, piano, strings, and, my favorite, banjo. The second character is a static response with constant clipping. This response can be slightly harsh but in many instances it works perfectly. It is the sound I’ve typically attained with more aggressive vocals, drums and electric guitars. As a drum kit mic the Copperphone perfectly blends with the other drum mics or it can work as the sole sound for the drum kit if that crusty old-school loop sound is desired. In one instance when using the mic on the drum kit, one of the first times I used the Copperphone mic, I was running it through my Focusrite ISA-430mkll (using only the preamp - no equalization or dynamics control) and after I soloed the Copperphone for the drummer to hear the assistant freaked out and ran to the Focusrite to document the settings. He wanted to get the setting so he could get the same sound and he thought I had done some drastic processing but in reality, it was just the sound of the mic. That kind of thing has happened so often that I’ve almost decided to start claiming that I’m doing something to make it sound that cool.
I have a pair of Copperphone mics that I have been using for several months now and they are simply fantastic. - Written by Russ Long.
ONLINE REVIEW ON SFRECORDING.COM (October 2007)
One of my less productive hobbies is combing Ebay for mics from the 1940 - 1960s. There were so many odd ball pieces of equipment made in those years that have such distinctive sounds. It seems like most modern mics are focused on having a hyped high end and kind of flat mids. That is all well and good, but when it comes time to get a sound with a unique vibe, modern mics seem to always kind of leave me feeling cold. That is why I was so excited to get my hands on a Copperphone from Placid Audio!
Mark at Placid hand builds these monstrous dynamic mics when he’s not busy with the Polyphonic Spree. The rather large looking diaphragm is housed inside a copper pipe that makes the mic look quite a bit like a pipe bomb! Construction is assuredly bulky with a nice in-built pivoting clip for mounting the mic. Its very sturdy, but the fact that its attached to the mic means that you have to spin the whole mic assembly just to mount it. Additionally, it has a somewhat limited degree of movement. I quickly noticed that the Copperphone is prone to mic stand vibration, so the option to have a shock-mount would have been much appreciated.
The Copperphone is built from old style telecom components. As excepted, this gives you the the “telephone” vibe but there is bit more to this mic than the typical band passed sound. The polar pattern seems to be fairly omnidirectional, which, in the context of this mic, is probably a good thing. Self-noise is surprisingly lower than I expected and the output is fairly strong, about what you’d except from a typical dynamic. While the frequency response is obviously very limited (you get mids, and that’s about it) the mids that you do get are GREAT. The Copperphone has very pleasing, crisp, but not harsh mids that are naturally compressed. This works brilliantly for things like a doubled vocal or for something that you need to cut through a mix without “hogging” space.
The first source I used this on was a Hammond organ. The artist was hoping for a kind of “old timey” sound, but, with the Copperphone going into a Neve 2254e, we got a pretty great sound that was by no means lo-fi. In fact, in the mix, it was the best I have ever heard my M103 organ sound! It was simultaneously pleasing and disappointing to the artist and I. Granted, the 2254e was thickening up the sound substancially, but the two together were such a nice pairing that we went for it. Next up, we used it on a trumpet track, also going into the 2254e and got a similar result. The mids were totally cutting through, as horns need to do, but without the harsh upper mids and highs that a regular condenser often gives you on a horn. This time around, the band passed sound was more prominent, but, to be honest, I don’t think most listeners would interpret it as such. Again, an equally pleasant and disappointing surprise!
Determined to get the artists his long coveted “old timey” sound on at least 1 track, we employed the Copperphone on an upright piano part along side a Neumann KM184. The idea was that the Copperphone may not work in the context of the song, so we recorded both to separate tracks. Soloed, the Copperphone gave us a wonderful, highly authentic 1930/1940’s sounding piano, a perfect compliment to my 1890s upright! Similes all around. The really interesting thing came when we listened back to a mix of the KM184 and the Copperphone. The Copperphone added some very nice mids and a resonance to the piano that was highly complimentary. This made me appreciate the mic even more and has me dreaming of pairing it with ribbon mics. In this sense, the Copperphone can serve as a very unique utility mic, as well as a “special effect.”
Finally, we did a vocal take, which was the intended use of the artist for the Copperphone, and got exactly what we had hoped for. A kick ass old AM radio vocal sound that just can’t be faked with eq or plug ins. Very nice!
At $250, where else are you going to get a hand built mic with a vintage vibe but modern sensibility? I just wish more companies would make “bold” sounding gear like the Copperphone. Cheers to the guys at Placid Audio! - Written by Colin Fairbairn.